(Hull Daily Mail (England) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) InShort Thorpes Community Centre in Orchard Park will house a library once a fortnight when the mobile service ends in September.

A COMMUNITY centre in Orchard Park will be turned into a library once a fortnight when the mobile library is scrapped in September, the Mail can reveal. The Labour-controlled administration at Hull City Council insists it is necessary to axe the service as it seeks to make Pounds 48m of savings over the next two years. Now, Councillor Terry Geraghty, ward councillor and cabinet portfolio holder for culture, leisure, events and public wellbeing, has announced that about eight "satellite" libraries will be piloted across Hull.

Details are still being finalised, but Cllr Geraghty said one of the locations would be the Thorpes Hub, a community centre in Homethorpe, which also houses a budget gym.

Cllr Geraghty said he had listened to the concerns of residents and fellow councillors.

"I am very concerned about the impact of withdrawing the mobile library centre, especially for the elderly and the disabled," said Cllr Geraghty.

"This is why I have pressed for a year-long pilot scheme, which involves what I call 'satellite' libraries visiting locations across the city."
Cllr Geraghty argues that the scheme, which was approved by the Guildhall yesterday, will be "much more cost-effective" than the mobile library.

"It will cost Pounds 41,000 a year to run," he said. "That's half the cost of the mobile library service. "A council van will visit the various locations, which will including the community centre in Homethorpe, with a range of books on board.

"Books will be taken into these locations for people to borrow and a librarian will be employed to run it."
Cllr Geraghty said the opening times would broadly remain the same as the mobile library service slots and said that the range of reading material would be similar. "We are hoping volunteers from the community will also get involved and help run the scheme once it takes off," he said. "The Thorpes Hub is absolutely booming at the moment, especially with its gym.

"The library will be another facility that will help the centre continue to flourish." Chantel Goforth, manager of the Thorpes Hub Community Gym, said: "It's a good idea, which will help people, especially those who cannot travel for whatever reason."
Follow Kevin on Twitter @hdm_shoesmith 'I will carry on fighting to the wire to keep the mobile service' Mitigating the worst effects of the cutting of the mobile library service can only be a good thing.

But this will be of little comfort on the Trafalgar estate and residents living in Hayworth Park, who stand to lose a mobile library service on their doorstep.

I will carry on fighting to the wire to keep the service we currently have but, if that fails, I will be pressing very hard to make sure a service is provided in my Beverley ward.